reviews of the MOTU 8pre

[corban]

as opposed to the firepod, specifically. I'm asking, not giving. Anybody?

 

[appleyardrules]

definately go for the 8pre
sure its 50 dollars more BUT
+ it looks well built
+ more digital i/o especially the capability to run 8 extra channels at 96khz
theres probably more upsides but just that right there is worth it
im gunna say the drivers pretty solid but i wouldnt know
i used to get lots of crackles on my firepod
but i a got a motu 896hd for my pc and its SICK! so i think the 8 pre would be sick to
and i know that motus are really good with macs too

 

[dgatwood]

as opposed to the firepod, specifically. I'm asking, not giving. Anybody?

I have both. I'd pick the 8Pre in an instant from what I've seen so far. The 8Pre reliably syncs via ADAT with just about anything I threw at it. The FIREPOD S/PDIF is spotty at best by comparison.

I had an early hardware failure (broke a flip cover on an optical jack) and MOTU overnighted a replacement. I was back up and running in under a week. When my FIREPOD broke, I shipped it to Presonus. I had it back in five weeks.

There's no comparison in the hardware quality, and there's no comparison in the customer service. Go with the MOTU. Just my $0.02.

 

[corban]

thanks for the info. i've never had a need for ADAT as of yet, what all do you use it for? how do the pres measure up?

 

[dgatwood]

thanks for the info. i've never had a need for ADAT as of yet, what all do you use it for? how do the pres measure up?

I use it so I can connect a second 8Pre without adding much additional CPU load.

Thus far, most of my testing on the 8Pre says the pres are respectable. I haven't done any detailed A/B testing against anything else, and I've only been recording drums, so it would be hard to say much based on that... but they aren't noisy, anyway....

 

[shackrock]

yeah I'm most interested in the PREs....how are they compared to the onyx pre's (400f, for example)?

 

[warble2]

They are probably MOTU's standard pre's, aren't they? I haven't read anything that would tell a different story. Seems like they would promote an improvement if there was one, and I've never been a fan of MOTU pre's.